Fading
by RascalKat
Summary: Odd can't shake the feeling that he has to prove he isn't the weakest link, but when Xana starts attacking him directly, he might be too proud to admit that he desperately needs help. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Quick Author's Note: First, **THIS IS NOT A SLASH FIC**. All you dang yaoi fan girls might still be squealing over this story, but it is BROTHERLY LOVE. Nothing more. Also, it starts off a little slow. **Just try to get to the end of the chapter** and you might be interested. ;)

Summary: Odd can't shake the feeling that he has to prove he isn't the weakest link, but when Xana starts attacking him directly, he might be too proud to admit that he desperately needs help. Rated T just in case.

**Fading, Chapter 1**

* * *

Odd snarled as one of his laser arrows just barely whizzed past the tarantula's head… Again. "Come on, Odd, you can do better than this!" he hissed at himself. He pressed forward on his Overboard before turning back to try and get another shot. "Laser arrow!" he shouted, missing for the fourth time in a row.

"Having trouble?" Ulrich shouted from his Overbike. Odd glared at him, then turned his attention back to the tarantula. He took aim, trying to keep his arm as steady as possible this time, and fired. The only sound that met his ears was an empty clicking, signaling that he was out of ammo.

"Great." He muttered, lowering his arm again.

"Want me to take this one?" Ulrich asked. The smirk on his face was visible, even at such a distance.

Odd scoffed at him. "Not a chance!" he shouted, leaping off his Overboard to land almost directly on the tarantula's back. He drew his arm back, claws ready to score into the monster's Xana eye. His weight shifted suddenly, thanks to the tarantula rearing up, and Odd tumbled backward and landed in the dirt with a solid _thud_. He flinched as the monster promptly exploded above him.

"I thought you were going to get it!" Ulrich walked over to his friend to retrieve the sword that had just finished the creature off.

"I was going to!" Odd insisted. He pushed himself off the ground, glaring indignantly at his room mate. Aelita's voice echoed throughout the Sector as the formerly activated tower glowed a soft blue color, and Odd let out a sigh. Once again, he hadn't gotten a single monster during this trip to Lyoko, and Yumi and Ulrich would probably not let him forget it. Sometimes he really hated being the weakest of the three of them…

Disappointed in himself, and not to mention irritable, Odd crossed his arms and waited for Jeremie to rematerialize them on earth.

"So, how far ahead of you are Yumi and I in that monster competition again?" Ulrich asked back in the scanner room, still smirking.

Odd rolled his eyes and tried to ignore it as he walked over to the elevator, but in his mind he couldn't help but reply. _Twenty three. _

* * *

Yumi picked up the last of the boxes from off the floor, then looked up at the stacks of textbooks on top of the cabinets. She and Odd had been drafted to help Mrs. Hertz move to her new room in a different part of the building. Odd had to stand on his tiptoes to reach even the top of the cabinet, and Yumi wasn't sure how he expected to be able to pull one of the textbooks down without causing an avalanche. She set the box back down and walked over to him. "Here, let me help you."

Odd grabbed onto the handle of the cabinet as if to pull himself higher. "No, I can do it." He said, gritting his teeth.

Yumi backed off for the moment. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute. In fact, just head to the new room, I can do this myself."

"Alright, whatever you say, Odd." Yumi shook her head at him, but he didn't seem to notice, too caught up in his task. Either he was determined to do this without help, or too stubborn to admit that he couldn't. Whichever it was, Yumi turned around and walked out of the room.

Only seconds later she heard a sound that could be nothing but textbook upon textbook falling onto the tile floor. Chuckling silently to herself, she didn't look back.

Just a moment after that, Odd was walking next to her with a stack of textbooks in his hands. His facial expression was one of annoyance, and he looked at her sideways to see if she'd noticed his mistake. Yumi knew he was watching her, and it took all of her concentration to keep a straight face, but luckily, Odd looked forward again. It was at that point that Yumi let herself burst out laughing.

A few seconds after Odd and Yumi had set the last few textbooks down on the table in Mrs. Hertz's new room, Yumi's cell-phone rang.

"Yeah Jeremie?" she asked.

"Are you and Odd finished at school yet? I have an idea that I wanted to test out, but I need all of you on Lyoko for it."

"We just finished. We'll be there soon."

"Great. See you then."

She hung up and looked over at Odd. "Time to go." She said.

* * *

"Watch out, guys, three mantas coming your way."

"Great, one for each of us." Ulrich said just as Jeremie got their vehicles ready for them. Each Lyoko warrior grabbed their own vehicle and charged at one of the mantas, trying to distract them from Aelita. Odd shifted on his Overboard, dodging laser blasts left and right as he circled around the Celestial Dome. One second he was headed forward and the next he was rocketing upward and looping back, trying to get a shot at the manta chasing him.

Upside down on his board, he aimed his wrist at the creature's Xana eye. Just as he was about to shoot, the manta tilted upwards and one of its lasers hit him in the shoulder while another just barely clipped his board. The board spun, and Odd had just enough time to grab onto it with one hand before he plummeted into what would probably have been oblivion. The board continued to spin out of control, and he dug into the surface of it with his claws.

"I've got your back!" Ulrich shouted as he rode along side him on the Overbike, having already taken out his manta.

"I'll be fine on my own!" Odd shouted in reply, grabbing hold of the board with his other set of claws as well. "Go protect Aelita!"

Ulrich looked at him for a moment before nodding and turning back to defend Aelita, who was focused on the interface.

Meanwhile, Odd was beginning to wish he'd taken Ulrich's help, although he hated to admit it. His board only spun faster out of control, but somehow he ended up running into the manta that was still chasing him. He used the moment to his advantage, let go of his board, and dug his claws into the monster's back. After trying to angle the manta right above the platform Aelita was standing on, he shot a laser arrow directly into its Xana eye, jumped off, and landed with cat-like grace next to Aelita. At least he'd finally gotten one of the monsters this time.

Soon after, Yumi's manta had been taken care of as well, and for the moment all was calm.

"All right Aelita. All you have to do now is find the zone codes for each tower so that I can program the defense shields. Then you'll have to go to all of the towers individually and verify my access from that end so I can install them. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd will go with you in case Xana tries to stop us." Jeremie said, staring intently at his computer screen as the numbers denoting which tower was which started popping up on it. The entire group and been transported to Sector Five to retrieve information that might allow them a head start the next time Xana decided to activate a tower.

"Hey, Einstein, do you mind if I skip out on the hero business this once?" Odd asked. "I have a detention for Mrs. Hanson soon. If I'm late, I have to serve two detentions instead of one."

Yumi looked over at her purple-clad friend. "What, did you try to sneak food into her room again?"

Odd crossed his arms and glared at her. "I didn't have much of a choice. I was starving! All they serve in the cafeteria any more is a bunch of healthy junk. I can't work on an empty stomach you know!"

Jeremie sighed. "Fine, I'll just materialize you now. Try not to get any more detentions, though. Who knows, you might get stuck in detention the next time Xana attacks. These defense shields we're installing might delay him for a few minutes, not a few hours."

"Got it, Einstein. Now would you hurry up already? I'm going to be late."

"Materializing you now." Odd looked down to see his feet already disintegrating into a bunch of pixels.

"See you guys when I get out of hell!" he quipped cheerfully, right before the disintegration caught up to his mouth.

Jeremie clicked off of Odd's devirtualization program, ready to use the information Aelita had just gathered. He thought he heard the elevator coming up the shaft and realized it must be Odd already out in the real world again. _That was fast,_ Jeremie thought. _He must really not want to get that second detention._

Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita backtracked their way out of Sector Five and into the Ice Sector, beginning with the southernmost towers.

They managed to install defense shields in two towers peacefully before Xana sent a round of monsters at them: two krabs and one tarantula.

"Divide and conquer?" Ulrich shouted up at Yumi, who happened to be flying quite a ways above them on the Overwing.

"Gotcha!" she shouted back.

Ulrich pulled over next to a large boulder and let Aelita take cover before charging at the tarantula on foot. He zipped under the monster with his super speed before turning around and launching himself upwards, hoping to land on its back. It moved at the last moment, causing Ulrich to land face first in the dust. He rolled over, just barely missing a laser shot at his back.

Yumi jumped off the Overwing and onto a krab, but was bucked off before she got the chance to take her shot. The other krab took the opportunity to slam her in the arm with its laser. She gritted her teeth and tossed a fan in its direction, somehow getting a bull's-eye even thought she had never really aimed in the first place.

Ulrich scrambled to his feet, whipping out his katana to deflect a group of lasers. He feinted to one side, then to the other while using his 'triplicate' power, hoping to confuse the monster long enough to give him a chance to destroy it. Sure enough, the tarantula's head swiveled from side to side, not sure what to do. Ulrich took those few seconds to run straight at it and slash his sword through its face.

Meanwhile, Yumi was running from the second krab, trying to figure out a way to turn the situation around.

"Hey, over here!" Ulrich shouted, trying to distract the monster from its current target. Yumi turned around and ran back at the krab, who, by now, was going after Ulrich instead of her. With a flick of her wrist, she threw a fan at the creature, just barely hitting the target in the right place.

By the time they reached the Mountain Sector, Jeremie had lost count of the number of times he had installed the defense shields on each different tower. He checked his watch and realized it had been thirty minutes since the last time he'd looked at it, after they had already installed a few of the defense shields. At this rate, they were going to be here for at least a few more hours.

"Guys, I think we'll just call it a night and finish the towers on Sunday." He informed them quite a while later, once they'd already gotten halfway through the Mountain Sector. All three breathed a sigh of relief, having long since grown tired of all the monotonous running around. "I'm going to bring you back in. Nice work today."

Jeremie waited patiently as his friends took the elevator up to his level. Ulrich stepped out first, followed by Aelita and Yumi.

"Any idea why Odd's backpack was still in the scanner room?" He asked curiously, holding it up for Jeremie to see.

"Maybe he forgot it?"

Ulrich opened it and looked inside. "I don't think so… He wouldn't have forgotten his sketchbook, or his cell-phone for that matter. Are you sure he came back from Sector Five?"

"What, do you think the materialization program might have bugged up or something?" Yumi asked skeptically.

"I was pretty sure I heard him coming up the elevator though…" Jeremie trailed off.

"Could you at least check and make sure? Something just doesn't seem right to me. Odd might forget to do his homework, but his sketchbook isn't something he'd just leave somewhere."

"I don't see what you're so worried about, but yeah, I can check." With that, Jeremie walked back over to the computer and pulled up Odd's materialization history. The blinking red exclamation sign that certainly had _not_ shown up when he last rematerialized Odd lit up the screen. Ulrich had been right to be worried.

"You were right, Ulrich… Odd… Odd never came back from Sector Five."

The three of them stared at him anxiously, waiting for an explanation as to why his voice had suddenly taken on that familiar "gloom and doom" tone.

"There must have been a bug in the Sector Five materialization program." He added, starting to breathe heavier.

Aelita walked over and put her hand on his shoulder, concern showing on her elf-like features. "What is it, Jeremie?"

By now he was typing frantically, searching for the backup file he had made for all of the programs. "I… Well, I… Look, do you guys remember the first time Odd and Ulrich got devirtualized when you all first went to Sector Five? They spent so much time in limbo between Earth and Lyoko that it depleted most of their energy. It was only about twenty minutes or so before I was able to bring them back, and both of them could hardly stand. Yumi wasn't as bad because she had only been devirtualized for a few seconds before she was brought back."

Yumi narrowed her eyes. "But didn't the same thing happen to you when you tried to go to Lyoko to apologize to Aelita? You were stuck between the two for almost a day, and you were fine." She said, trying to find a reason not to worry.

"The situation is different." Jeremie said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. "When I got stuck between the two worlds, I was saved in the Read-Only Memory. Odd's data was put in the Random Access Memory, which is far less stable."

"And? How long exactly has it been since you tried to rematerialize Odd?" Ulrich asked, eyes growing wide.

Jeremie looked at his watch again before returning to pounding at the keys as fast as he could. "I… I don't know, an hour maybe? I don't know what effect this will have on him. He might even-"His sentence trailed off there, and the rest of the group didn't have to hear the end of it to realize the gravity of the situation.

Ulrich gritted his teeth, his fear for his friend manifesting itself as rage. "How could you let this happen, Jeremie!?" he shouted. Jeremie flinched away, but didn't let his fingers slow down as he navigated the supercomputer, and Yumi grabbed a hold of Ulrich before he could strangle him.

"Leave it, Ulrich, he's the only one who can bring Odd back, and yelling at him isn't going to make things happen any faster." She said. Ulrich looked up at her, anger glinting in his eyes, but the logic got through to him anyway. He shrugged her off, crossed his arms, and turned away from them to deal with the idea of what might happen on his own.

Ulrich could only imagine the worst, and imagine he did, his face taking on a distant and terrified expression. He balled his hands into fists over and over again, growing impatient as Jeremie continued to work. _Come on, Einstein, work faster, we could lose him at any minute…_

The three of them stood in silence for a while before Jeremie's typing seemed to slow down a bit. "I think I've fixed the bug." He said, only half relieved. "Let's go down to the scanner room." He set up the auto-materialization program before standing up and briskly walking over to the elevator. The rest followed as quickly as they could.

One floor down, Yumi and Ulrich stood together, a few steps away from Jeremie and Aelita as they waited for the scanner to boot up and start the process.

"Yumi… Odd's already been devirtualized for at least an hour now. That's three times as long as last time." he said. His voice was soft, showing an uncharacteristic concern for his friends that he seemed to reserve for special occasions.

"I know."

"Just… Just brace yourself, okay?" he replied, although the statement was more for his own benefit than for Yumi's. She nodded all the same, grabbed hold of his hand, and squeezed it tightly.

Neither of them realized it, but they were both holding their breath as the light inside the scanner started to spill out into the room.

* * *

End Author's note: I can't guarantee how much I'll be able to update this, but I've got a good idea of where this story is going at least. Once again, if you're interested in this, please leave a review. It can be as short as "Keep going" or even "Yes" (or "No" if you didn't like it), I don't really care, but I would appreciate more constructive reviews as well! If enough people like it, I'll post the next chapter as soon as possible. There's your incentive ;) Hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** So, according to the ten reviews I recieved for the first chapter so far, you guys would like me to continue? :) Well, here's the second chapter! It's a little longer than the last, but more happens, so... Yeah... I'm trying to write this story one chapter ahead, but even though I haven't finished chapter 3 yet, I decided to post this one. I think I've got most of what happens in chapter 3 in the first place, but **I'd love to hear your predictions of what will happen next!** It really helps me figure out where things are going if people try to predict :) Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Code Lyoko. There. I said it. Now read the chapter. :)

* * *

_One floor down, Yumi and Ulrich stood together, a few steps away from Jeremie and Aelita as they waited for the scanner to boot up and start the process._

_"Yumi… Odd's already been devirtualized for at least an hour now. That's three times as long as last time." he said. His voice was soft, showing an uncharacteristic concern for his friends that he seemed to reserve for special occasions._

_"I know."_

_"Just… Just brace yourself, okay?" he replied, although the statement was more for his own benefit than for Yumi's. She nodded all the same, grabbed hold of his hand, and squeezed it tightly._

_Neither of them realized it, but they were both holding their breath as the light inside the scanner started to spill out into the room._

* * *

They were all stunned to see Odd curled up in a ball at the bottom of the scanner. Sure, both Yumi and Aelita had occasionally come back from Lyoko in a fetal position after a particularly nasty shot, but Odd? Never. The worst they'd ever seen him was on his hands and knees.

Ulrich tried to take a step towards his friend, get close enough so that he could tell if Odd was even still alive, but for some reason, he found he couldn't move. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally got the message down to his feet to take a few stumbling steps forward.

"Odd?" he managed to croak out as he reached the scanner. "Odd, can you hear me?"

There was no reply, and, vaguely aware of the fact that no one else had moved a muscle, Ulrich knelt down next to him. His hands fumbled to search for a pulse on Odd's neck, and weak relief washed through him as he found one. Odd's breathing was pretty shallow, and he was completely unconscious, but he was alive.

Around Ulrich, the rest of the group seemed to go limp with relief themselves as they recognized the look on his face.

"Thank God," he said, leaning his head against the door of the scanner. "That was a close one." The other three closed in on Odd and helped gently pull his body from the scanner to rest in a far less crumpled heap on the floor.

Jeremie sighed. "He should be fine now, but he'll probably need a lot of sleep to regain his energy."

"In that case." Ulrich replied, beginning to feel tired himself. "I guess I'll take him back to our dorm. When do you think he'll wake up?"

"I… I don't know." Jeremie looked down at his feet, chewing the corner of his lip to try to alleviate the guilt.

Ulrich nodded, picking Odd up bridal-style and heading for the elevator. The rest of the group followed, Jeremie carrying Odd's backpack alongside his own.

Back at the dorms, Jeremie and Aelita had already gone up to their own rooms, and Ulrich laid Odd down gently on his bed. The blonde stirred slightly, but didn't wake up, and Ulrich decided against trying to get him into his pajamas, for reasons _other_ than the obvious. For one, he could feel his eyes trying to force themselves shut on him already, and two, he had no idea where Odd's night clothes even _were_ to begin with.

* * *

Ulrich grimaced at the blaring sound of his alarm clock rudely asserting itself in his subconscious. The beeping pulsed in his ears and he slammed his fist down on the snooze button before it could so elegantly continue. He was pulling his blanket tighter around himself to go back to sleep for another ten minutes when he remembered what had happened the night before. He tore the blanket off and scrambled out of bed and over to Odd, hoping his friend would actually wake up this time.

"Odd?" he reached out and shook him gently. Odd's eyes remained shut, and Ulrich shook him a little harder, dread growing in the pit of his stomach. What if he didn't wake up? "Odd, it's time to get up." He said again, his voice growing desperate. Just when he was about to go into panic mode, Odd's eyes flickered open.

"Uhh… What happened?" he mumbled, reaching a hand up to rub his head.

"Something went wrong during your rematerialization from Sector Five."

"Is that all? I feel like I got hit by a train." He sat up and buried his head in his hands.

"Well, you were stuck between earth and Lyoko for quite a while…"

Odd looked as if he'd been splashed by a bucket of cold water. "Aww, man, I missed my detention, didn't I?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Jeremie thought you'd already left or something, so he almost didn't bother to check to see if something happened during the transfer. Luckily, we noticed your stuff was still in the scanner room and we got the feeling something was wrong."

"Otherwise I might have spent a lot longer in there, huh?"

Ulrich got up and started getting ready, refusing to answer. He hadn't thought of that. If he hadn't noticed Odd's backpack, his friend probably _would_ be dead by now. The thought of it shook him to his core, but he did his best to ignore it. What mattered now was that Odd was alive. He didn't have to torture himself with the margin Odd had come through by.

Ulrich turned around just in time to see his friend trying to stand up, swaying a little. He moved quickly to catch him before he collapsed completely, but Odd shook him off with an insistent "I'm fine," and sat back down on his own.

"You know, you could probably get out of school for the day if you wanted to. With the condition you're in, the administration might just let it slide." He suggested. He had seen enough to know that Odd might not actually make it through the school day without some sort of slip up, and anyway, it wasn't as if this would make the administration suspicious. Being a little tired and lightheaded was relatively normal, right?

"Yeah, I guess… What day is it again?" Odd asked, completely out of sorts.

"Saturday."

"I can't skip. We've got a chemistry test today, and you know how much harder Mrs. Hertz makes the makeup tests. I'll probably just barely pass this one." He got up again, but slower this time, and took a few successful steps across the room.

Ulrich sighed. "I still don't think this is a good idea."

"Don't sweat it, Ulrich, I can do this. I'll be fine, and anyway it's only half a day. I just have to be a little more careful is all."

He couldn't understand why Ulrich was making such a fuss over him now. It wasn't as if being injured in some way was anything new to the Lyoko warriors, much less to Odd. Ever since he had realized that he was the weakest on Lyoko, he had made sure he filled the role of the strongest warrior in the real world.

He had lost count of the number of times he had stayed behind to fight whatever polymorphic specter Xana threw their way, and he had also lost count of the number of times he had gone to the nurse with cracked ribs, broken bones, or worse, because of it. After all, there were days when a little pain was worth not having to return to the past and risk making Xana stronger. Yolanda probably thought he was accident prone by now, but he didn't complain. He had a part to play as Xana's punching bag, and he took his role seriously. Why was this any different?

Ulrich, however, couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important happening, most likely bad, and for the moment, he had no idea what it was. "Just don't do anything stupid, okay, Odd?"

* * *

Ulrich could hear the telltale sounds of snoring just behind him. So much for not doing anything stupid. He nonchalantly reached his hand back to give Odd's desk a shake, but the snoring continued, and in the middle of their chemistry test, too. With a frantic glance up at Mrs. Hertz, who happened to still be checking email at her desk, he tried again to shake Odd's desk enough to wake him up. Once again, there was no response.

They were starting to draw looks, not to mention snickers, from around the classroom. Mrs. Hertz was staring straight at the two of them by now, and Ulrich stopped trying to wake his friend up in favor of looking down at his test, although he noticed the ruler in Mrs. Hertz's hand as she walked past. He couldn't help but flinch as the ruler came down hard on Odd's desk with a sharp _crack_, followed immediately by a gasp as he was startled awake.

"This is chemistry class, Odd, not naptime. Two hours detention."

Ulrich turned around at him as Mrs. Hertz walked back to her desk. He gave his friend a sympathetic glance before turning back to his desk and hoping Odd would have time to finish his test. It was the last ten minutes of class, and Ulrich knew he himself would just barely finish in time. From the quick glimpse he had gotten of Odd's test paper, Odd wasn't nearly as far as he should have been.

* * *

"Xana seems to be quiet lately." Jeremie said, trying to start a conversation. It was times like these that Odd really wished he was a normal student with normal pastimes, pastimes that _didn't_ involve stopping a sadistic multi-agent system from wreaking havoc on mankind. Some days all Jeremie could talk about was Xana, or the supercomputer, or figuring out how to free Aelita.

"He's probably ashamed to show his face after the way we beat him last time." Odd interjected, smiling at the thought of it.

"Either that or he's planning his next attack." Ulrich always knew the pessimistic thing to say, no matter how true it probably was.

Odd stared down at his food thoughtfully, one hand propped under his chin. He didn't really feel like eating, which was a shame, considering that it was spaghetti and meatballs day. Out of habit, he spun his fork around in the pasta.

Aelita glanced up at him and narrowed her eyes. She nudged Jeremie, who looked at her curiously before she nodded to purple-clad blonde in question. It wasn't long before both Yumi and Ulrich caught on as well, although Odd continued to swirl his fork around on his tray, oblivious.

"Aren't you hungry?" Ulrich stared at his friend in disbelief.

Odd looked up at him slowly, still caught in his thoughts. He shook his head before laying his fork down and staring out the window they were sitting next to. "Nah, not really."

"But Odd… You're _always_ hungry."

"I just don't really feel like eating today." He replied with a light shrug. "What, I can't not be hungry for _one meal_ without you guys thinking the world is ending?" he asked, earning a few chuckles from his friends. His appetite might be gone for the moment, but at least he still had his sense of humor. That fact alone was enough to put the rest of the group at ease… for the most part.

Odd changed the subject, realizing that they seemed far too fascinated with the idea of him not being hungry for once. "So, anyone have any plans this afternoon?" he asked, knowing that they probably did. There were no afternoon classes on Saturdays, and just about everyone took advantage of that and chose to do what they wanted rather than homework.

"Ulrich and I were going to go see a movie." Yumi stated simply. Odd looked over at Ulrich and quickly flashed a thumbs up. Despite the fact that Yumi didn't seem to think of it as a date, Odd knew Ulrich felt lucky just to finally get some time alone with her.

"Which movie?"

"That one with the three guys who invent a time machine and have to save their friends life or something."

"You guys are going to see a sci-fi movie?" Jeremie asked, confused. Normally he was the only one interested in stuff like that.

Their conversation was interrupted by a beeping sound coming from underneath the table, and within seconds, Jeremie had pulled his laptop out and was checking the alarm. "Activated tower in the desert region."

"Guess you guys won't be seeing that movie after all." Odd smirked. Lunch was forgotten as the five of them left the cafeteria and ran into the forest. Ulrich reached the manhole first, followed by Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremie. As the last one, Odd turned to scan his surroundings for anyone that might be following them before disappearing into the sewer as well.

The sound of wheels rolling along concrete echoed throughout the tunnel, and a few minutes later, Jeremie was seated at the supercomputer with the other four down below in the scanner room.

"Transfer Yumi. Transfer Aelita. Scanner. Virtualization." Jeremie's voice echoed throughout the room via the PA system. They had decided that with four people to send to Lyoko and with only three scanners available, it would be safest to transfer them in pairs. The buddy system had actually turned out to be useful.

"Odd, are you sure you're up this?" Ulrich asked as the scanners whirred to life.

The teenager in question rolled his eyes at his friend, really beginning to get annoyed that Ulrich seemed to think he was so fragile. Xana had done far worse than this when he had possessed Jeremie. At least this time he hadn't fallen almost twenty feet while simultaneously being electrocuted. "I'll be fine. Besides, you guys will probably need all the help you can get."

Ulrich gave him a searching look, trying to find any noticeable reason to keep Odd from going to Lyoko, but came up empty. With a defeated sigh, Ulrich stepped into one scanner while Odd stepped into another.

On Lyoko, their light blue outlines could be seen appearing about two stories above the ground. Ulrich was the first to drop out of the sky, landing with ease before turning around to make sure Odd had gotten through okay. The purple Lyoko warrior had landed roughly in a face plant with a solid thud, kicking up dust off the desert ground beneath them.

"Aren't cats supposed to land on their feet?" Ulrich asked, half joking and half concerned. Odd stood up and brushed himself off, making sure he kept the grimace off his face.

"That's not always true, you know." He replied with a snort.

"You okay?"

"For the hundredth time, _yes_. Who _are_ you, my mother?"

"No, but I'm certainly glad I'm not. I'd rather _not_ have six kids."

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, guys, but Yumi and Aelita could use your help." Jeremie's voice echoed down from the sky. "I'll get your taxis ready."

Xana seemed to have once again pulled out all the stops. By the time Ulrich and Odd reached the other two on their vehicles, there were still two krabs and two tarantulas left over, despite the fact that Yumi and Aelita had already taken out a few other monsters. Aelita paired up with Yumi to take down one of the krabs, while Ulrich and Odd each took a tarantula.

Ulrich barely got the chance to duck as the tarantula's laser singed the air above his head. He unsheathed his katana and quickly began deflecting a barrage of lasers back at the monster. Every one of the deflected lasers missed, save for one that managed to hit Odd squarely in the back somehow. "Sorry, Odd!" he shouted, getting hit once himself because he had divided his attention between his partner and his opponent.

"Don't worry about it!" Odd replied, cart wheeling away from the steady stream of lasers that his own tarantula had decided to unleash. He forced himself to hold still long enough to get a good aim at the monster, and although his laser arrow hit its mark, one of the monster's lasers did the same, crackling into blue static against Odd's right leg. He did his best to ignore the sharp sting of it.

Meanwhile, Yumi and Aelita had nearly finished off their krab, and Ulrich was just slicing his sword through his tarantula's eye of Xana, smirking in satisfaction as the creature exploded into hundreds of pieces. He was standing there surveying his work when the second krab shot him in the left shoulder. With a hiss of annoyance, he turned around to deflect more of the enemy fire, caught Odd's eyes, and mouthed the words "double team". Odd grinned back, getting into position.

"Supersprint!" Ulrich shouted, and he began threading himself between the krab's legs in ever more intricate patterns. With the krab distracted, Odd snuck up behind it and catapulted himself at the monster, aiming for the eye of Xana. Unfortunately, the krab turned around in an attempt to follow Ulrich and realized it was in danger a moment too soon. Before Odd could get his shot in, the krab had already fired, hitting him in the center of the chest and sending him flying backward as his body disintegrated in an arc of blue pixels.

Back in the scanner, Odd sunk down against the back wall. The place where the krab had hit him throbbed sharply to the beat of his racing heart, and much like during the first few times he had used the SCIPIO transporter, his stomach rolled. The only problem was that, in the real world, throwing up was an actual a possibility.

For a while, Odd just stayed like that at the bottom of the scanner, his head resting against his knees. He counted under his breath slowly as he waited for the pain and nausea to go away. By the time he got to forty five, he realized Jeremie would probably be wondering where he was, and he forced himself to his feet. His vision darkened and he felt the world tilting to the side, the ground coming up to meet him.

How he managed to keep himself upright, he didn't know, but what he did know was that he wasn't going to say anything about this. No one was supposed to have such a severe reaction to the return trip to earth unless they had been devirtualized in one of the more gruesome 'deaths', like getting crushed by a megatank or one of the moving walls in Sector Five. Getting hit in the chest with a laser certainly didn't make that list.

Odd gritted his teeth. They already thought he was a pathetic warrior on Lyoko, if he started acting pathetic in the real world, he would lose that status too. Ulrich already seemed to think of him as a kid brother that needed protecting ever since Jeremie had screwed up his materialization from Sector Five. He was sick enough of Ulrich treating him like that, and he didn't need the rest of the group doing the same. They might not let him go to Lyoko anymore if they found out either. The problem was easy enough to solve, though. He just wouldn't tell them about it.

Ignoring how the world once again listed dangerously to the right, Odd stumbled across the room and crashed into the elevator door. The door opened a bit too promptly, and he had to grab onto one of the handrails inside to keep from falling onto the metal floor

Jeremie seemed too focused on his screen to notice Odd's unusually heavy steps as he plodded out of the elevator and over to the supercomputer.

"What's going on?" he asked, hoping he sounded normal.

"Aelita's just entering the tower. Ulrich took out that last krab, but Xana sent a few more hornets to try to stop them."

Odd bit his lip, almost expecting Jeremie to detect that something wasn't quite right, but thankfully, the blonde continued typing away. A smile found its way onto Odd's face as he realized that the confrontation had been avoided, and a few seconds later, Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich were stepping off the elevator.

Odd put on the characteristic grin that he always wore, hoping the other three would fool as easily as Jeremie had.

"So," Aelita started. "Do we know what Xana's attack was yet?"

The three newcomers looked at Jeremie expectantly, and with no eyes on him, Odd let his guard slip a few centimeters.

"No, still nothing. I've even tried looking through the virtualization programs to see if Xana planted any bugs, and I haven't come up with anything." Jeremie replied.

"Well, for now there isn't much else we can do. What time is it?"

"Almost two o'clock."

Ulrich smiled slightly. "Great, that means we can still make it to the movie."

"Looks like your date didn't get cancelled after all, huh good buddy?" Odd bumped Ulrich in the side with his elbow, then quickly looked away in mock terror at the glare he received.

Ulrich rolled his eyes and looked back at Yumi. "Well, we'd better get going if we want to get there before it starts."

The five of them hurried out of the factory and back into the sewers. Odd was the last one inside once again, and the other four were already a little ways ahead of him.

He looked down nervously at his skateboard, still feeling a little dizzy from the return trip. It was one thing to ignore the physical pain, but it wasn't all that easy to ignore the fact that he wasn't exactly sure which way was up. Losing his balance and falling into the sewer water would be all too easy to do like this, but if Ulrich realized he had walked back through the tunnel instead, he'd know something was going on.

Mind made up, Odd stepped tentatively onto his skateboard and rode as carefully as he could through the sewers. Before he knew it, he was back on stable ground, walking through the forest back to KadicAcademy alongside his friends.

Odd's mind wandered to the long list of homework he had to get done by Monday, not to mention that massive project for his art class. It was going to take a small miracle for him to get all of it done in time. He was pulled from his thoughts when Aelita looked over at him, eyes narrowed.

"Are you okay, Odd? You look kind of pale…"

The lie came out smoothly, followed by his natural grin. "Nah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" Yumi asked, and Odd couldn't help but flinch inwardly as she scrutinized him. "Aelita's right, you do look a little pale."

He shrugged as nonchalantly as he could, and the conversation they had been having continued. Odd could swear he still felt Yumi and Aelita sneaking glances at him, though.

* * *

**A/N:** Once again, if you leave a review, I'd like to know what you think is going to happen next :) You can be as general or as specific as you want, I don't really care either way. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, all! Sorry for the delayed update, I was having ****_so many issues_**** with this chapter! Gosh, it was just... Ugh. But I've got it figured out now, thanks to a good friend! ;) (You know who you are XD) **

**Thanks to all of you anonymous reviewers, since I can't thank you via pm!**

**To "Guest": You are most definitely correct ;)**

**To "Smokestorm": Yeah, I knew that, but I was also thinking for some reason that they did away with Ms. Mayor (that's her name, right?) and they only showed Mrs. Hertz. Then again, Mrs. Hertz is constantly writing y=ax+b on the board, so for all we know, it could be math class, right? XD Lol, I fixed it though, thanks!**

**Anyway, you probably wanna just read the story now... Go ahead!**

**Fading, Chapter 3**

* * *

Had the multi-agent computer program known as Xana had a face, he would have been smirking as the group of teenagers intent on destroying him walked back to their dorms. They had all been expecting him to do something in the real world, but right now, his plan was just the opposite. The one known as "Einstein" had made quite a mistake when he neglected to check that the purple one's materialization process had not gone wrong… A mistake that he would not be able to overcome.

The first time any of the Lyoko warriors had gotten stuck between earth and Lyoko, Xana had realized that, with them in that state, he had access to nearly all of their coding. Unfortunately, he had been a few seconds too late to use this newfound knowledge. This time, however, he had been well prepared for the moment when the purple one's coding was available to him. He'd had nearly an hour to explore what could be done with the digital code. In fact, he had planted something directly into one of the folders that allowed him to access all of the purple one's files whenever he set foot on Lyoko. Yes, Xana was certain he would be smirking right now if he could. After all, the destruction of the first of Aelita's bodyguards had begun.

* * *

"Odd, time to get up." Ulrich glanced down at his sleeping roommate. Sure, it was Sunday, but that didn't mean they had to skip breakfast. He stepped out of the room with his shower stuff and a change of clothes, hoping Odd had gotten the message.

Odd struggled to open his eyes. He knew that he wasn't moving, but it felt as if he were shaking. Not shaking like shivering, shaking, but something else… Like his body couldn't quite figure out where it was, and he kept flickering back and forth. It was disorienting to say the least.

He grunted as he felt pressure on his chest, and for some reason, it hurt. "Kiwi…" he mumbled, trying to shove his dog away. "Kiwi, get off me…"  
The dog stood up, putting even more pressure on Odd's chest, but jumped down to the ground anyway.

Even without Kiwi laying on him, it took a little extra effort for him to pull himself into a sitting position. He stood up and walked over to his wardrobe, and was tugging his red nightshirt off so he could put the rest of his clothes on when something caught his attention.

Odd's eyes grew wide as he stared down at the softball-sized bruise in the center of his chest. "Where in the world did _that_ come from?" he muttered under his breath, reaching up tentatively to touch it. Strangely enough, it was the same place the krab had hit him when he had been devirtualized the day before… But the injuries they received in Lyoko weren't supposed to go with them back to earth, were they? Or maybe this happened all the time and his body had been able to cope until now.

The door opened at that moment, and Odd scrambled to pull his nightshirt back on. Luckily Ulrich hadn't seen anything, although he quirked an eyebrow at the terrified look on Odd's face.

"What, did I scare you?"

"You could say that… I thought you were going to take a shower." Odd shook his head, trying to wipe the traces of anxiety from his expression.

"Yeah, I forgot my shampoo." Ulrich walked over to the desk that they shared and grabbed a blue shampoo bottle out of one of the drawers.

"Oh. Okay. Meet you at breakfast then?"

"Sure."

* * *

Ulrich glared across the cafeteria at the back of William's head. Even though he and Yumi had gone to that movie together the afternoon before, Yumi still had no idea he had meant their outing as a date. Technically, that was his fault, because he had told her that they could be 'just friends'. That didn't mean he had to like it though. And now he had just overheard William talking about how he had asked Yumi to go somewhere with him today.  
He clenched his fork in his hand tighter before stabbing it into some of the food on his plate.

"Did you get attacked by a chicken when you were five or something?"

"Huh?" Ulrich looked up to see Odd setting his tray down on the table.

"Well, by the way you're attacking your scrambled eggs, I'm assuming you're angry. So, either you have a grudge against chickens, or something else is up. Which is it?" Ulrich just looked back at William, and Odd followed his gaze. "Oh. Him... Uh, never mind about the chicken thing…"  
Ulrich just snorted and looked down at his food. It was a miracle. His hashbrown actually looked appetizing today.

"So, you two ready for another trip to Lyoko?" Jeremie asked, sitting down next to the two of them.

"Another trip? Why, is Xana attacking again?" Odd asked, confused.

"Of course not. We have to finish installing the defense shields." He looked over at Ulrich before he went back to typing away on his laptop. "Please tell me you at least didn't forget about today, did you?"

"No, I remembered." Inwardly, Ulrich was smirking. Yumi would have to spend the day on Lyoko. So much for her plans with William.

Odd stared down at his food. Normally he'd be wolfing down his breakfast, but today he just didn't want it. He wasn't full or anything, but he wasn't hungry either. Weird…

Ulrich looked over at him, eyebrows rising slightly as he watched his friend not eat for the second time in a row. "So the one day the food actually looks good, you choose not to eat it? Still not hungry, huh?"

Odd shook his head, knowing that by now Ulrich was probably getting suspicious. He lifted a forkful of eggs to his mouth, trying not to grimace at the way it slithered down his throat like a slug. "Not really…" He set his fork back down and pushed his tray away from him.

"You sure you're feeling okay?" Something inside Ulrich told him there was more going on than Odd losing his appetite, but he pushed the feeling away. Odd would say something if there were more going on.

"I'm fine. Just not hungry." He grinned. "Weird, isn't it?"

Ulrich shrugged. "Definitely not what I expected…"

Jeremie looked up from his computer. "By the way, Odd, you're gonna have to step up your game on Lyoko." He turned the laptop to the two of them, pointing to an opened window. "Your laser arrows' hit-miss ratio is waaay to low."

"Okay then…" Odd said, eyes narrowing at the pitiful number. "So what do you want me to do about it?"

"Stop missing maybe? If you haven't noticed, the monsters have stopped going after you as much because you aren't as big a threat as Ulrich or Yumi."

Odd squirmed a little under Jeremie's steady, serious gaze. "So I've missed a few shots lately. It's not the end of the world."

"A missed shot very well could be the end of the world, Odd."

Ulrich shook his head. "All Jeremie's saying is that you need a little target practice, good buddy."

Odd sighed. "How am I supposed to get any target practice? Xana doesn't materialize many monsters on Lyoko unless he's activated a tower."

"I can make a program for you… Until then, I'm not sure what you can do." Jeremie replied with a shrug.

"Actually, it might help if you sparred with me in the meantime." Ulrich suggested. "Your close combat skills could use some work too."

Odd just rolled his eyes. This was why he preferred to stay off of Lyoko and deal with Xana's attacks in the real world. "Fine. When do we start?"

"We can go now if you want."

"Okay. Let's go then."

"You sure? You haven't exactly eaten much since yesterday."

"I'm fine, Ulrich. Let's just go. Bet I can pin you!"

"Yeah, right!" Ulrich snorted, picking up his empty tray and setting it on top of the trash can to be recycled. Odd followed suit, and before long, they were both standing in a clearing in the forest surrounding Kadic.

Both got into a fighting stance. "Whenever you're ready." Ulrich said.

Odd just stood there, examining the situation. Finally, Ulrich just launched himself at his roommate, spun himself into a roundhouse kick, and stopped his foot an inch short of pummeling Odd in the stomach.

Odd stumbled back in a useless attempt to stop what he thought was coming, then glared at Ulrich. "I thought you said 'whenever you're ready'!"

Ulrich only shrugged. "When is a kankrelat ever going to wait for you to make the first move?"  
Odd only rolled his eyes. "Fine… Still not fair, though…"

They both got back into a fighting stance, and this time, Odd didn't hesitate. He advanced quickly, and Ulrich shot out a solid backfist to the temple, but Odd dodged and swiped his leg at Ulrich's to destabilize him. It didn't work. Ulrich just smirked at his opponent, took a few steps back, and waited for Odd to come at him again. He had to learn that he couldn't be reckless either.

Odd came after him, and this time, Ulrich was the one to sweep his foot out and catch Odd's feet. And this time, it worked. He flailed for a second, just long enough for Ulrich to slide a punch in that never actually connected with Odd's side.

Five minutes later, the sweat was starting to drip down both of their faces as Odd just barely dodged another kick. Ulrich had to admit, Odd had great balance (which made sense, considering how well he rode the Overboard), but he lacked quite a few other things. He was certainly crafty enough, but his reflexes were kind of slow right now, and he was a little too fond of taking risks.

Ulrich dodged a punch, and with Odd's guard out of the way, he aimed a side-blade kick straight at Odd's chest. Unfortunately, Ulrich hadn't realized how close his friend was to him at the time, and he couldn't pull the kick away before his foot connected. Odd stumbled backwards before collapsing to the ground. He rolled over onto his side and lay there with his eyes shut, gasping for breath as Ulrich grimaced at his mistake.

"Aww, man, Odd, I'm sorry!" He blurted out. He was fairly certain he hadn't kicked Odd _that_ hard, but perhaps he had.

"It's okay." Odd managed to get out. "You just… knocked the wind out of me." He sat up slowly, still a little stunned.

"Are you sure? I could have sworn I kicked you higher than that."

"Nope." Odd replied, although his voice still sounded strained. "I'm good."

A moment later, he was on his feet again, but Ulrich just looked at him. _I was sure I kicked him higher. I wasn't low enough to knock the wind out of him, but I guess… That's the only explanation for why it would affect him so much…_ He shrugged inwardly. _Maybe I did just knock the wind out of him… _"I think we should stop." He added out loud.

"Come on, Ulrich, I'm fine. What, you think a little kick will stop me?" Odd got into a fighting stance again, but Ulrich just stayed where he was.  
He was trying to figure out if he had only imagined Odd's voice get softer. He shook his head. "No, that's enough for today. Besides, we should probably head back and finish our homework. I have a feeling the mission on Lyoko is going to take a while."

"Alright, then, if you're sure. Come on, let's go." Odd said. Ulrich turned around to leave, and at that second, Odd let himself grimace before mouthing the foulest word he could think of. _Right in the bruise_, he hissed to himself.

* * *

"So, are we ready to install the rest of the defense shields?" Jeremie asked from one floor above the rest of the group over the PA system.

His question was met with a chorus of 'sure's, and four virtualizations later, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita were off on their assignment: finish the rest of the towers in the mountain sector. Installing the rest of the defense shields was simple enough, although time consuming. Xana hadn't sent a single monster to stop them, and at first the group thought that something was up, but by the time that they had finished installing the last defense shield in the last sector, it was obvious that Xana wasn't trying to stop them.

As he pulled up the materialization codes for his friends, Jeremie wondered if they had made a mistake somewhere to explain Xana's absence. It was then that he glanced at a map of the ice sector and realized that they had missed a tower somehow.

"Guys, it looks like the mission's not quite over yet. We skipped one of the towers in the ice sector." There was a collective groan from the four in Lyoko.

"At least it's only one." Aelita added optimistically, and they took off running for the nearest way tower.

A few minute later, Odd was skating across the virtual ice, trying to catch up to his friends. Of course Ulrich would be able to run faster, but for some reason, he couldn't even keep up with Aelita or Yumi. Running on all fours wouldn't work as easily on ice, so it looked like he was stuck in last for the time being. Lost in his thoughts, Odd nearly fell over trying to stop himself.

The rest of his friends had stopped in the middle of the bridge leading to the last tower. It seemed as if Xana hadn't been dormant after all. Before them was an army of monsters guarding the Lyoko warriors' final destination.

"Uh, guys, do you see what I see?" Odd's eyes had gone wide.

Ulrich and Yumi both looked on with mild surprise on their faces. "Don't worry, we see it too." Ulrich replied. He drew his katanas out of their sheaths, ready for battle. "Should we go for it, Jeremie?"

"I doubt you'll make it. Xana is making more monsters as we speak, but if you don't go now, he'll just keep making more of them."

Ulrich shrugged. "Let's not waste any time, then."

"You guys might want to split up into groups. Maybe you can progress farther that way. I'm pulling up your vehicles now." The sound of Jeremie's fingers hitting the keys could be heard over his headset.

Yumi and Ulrich glanced at one another, and Odd couldn't help but notice. "Guess you're with me, princess," he told Aelita. The Overboard materialized in front of them, and the two hopped on. Ulrich and Yumi got onto their respective vehicles, and the four Lyoko warriors advanced toward the swarm of Xana eyes.

* * *

**I sort of gave up on finishing this chapter the way I wanted to, so it's a little shorter than my usual, but you guys have waited long enough! So I hope you enjoyed reading this, and feel free to review if you want to! **

**PS I'd still love to hear your predictions as to what you think will happen next! ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

_Finally this chapter is finished! Man, I suck. Promise to get the next chapter out fast and then take, what, two months? Yeah, you guys have the right to come after me with pitchforks now. I'd like to thank my new beta-reader, NobleScotsman, for all his help on this chapter :) I really hope you guys enjoy it! Thank you all for being so very patient! Man, I just realized that I use exclamation points way too often... Now, on with the chapter!_

_After a short review mailbag ;) I forgot to send a thank you to some of the members via pm, so I'll just include them here._

_**penspot**: "A good chapter. Xana isn't going to take over Odd, is he? Like he did with William?"_

_-Thank you! Hmm... You could say that, in a sense, Xana _is_ going to take over Odd. But probably not in the way you'd expect ;)_

_**a Tale with Ears**: "Well, my prediction stays nearly the same as my last review, except that it'll probably have different monsters. (: Amazing chapter."_

_-Yeah, you got the general idea right! Thank you!_

_**Angel**: "Yayy! You updated! This chapter was grrrrrrreeeeeeeaaaaatttttttt ttttttt! Cant wait to see what happens! Update soon please! :)"_

_"Im just SO looking forward to the next chapter! You are one of my favoritest writers everrrr! And I have a question... Have you ever heard of Fruits Basket? There is a manga and an anime. I used to watch the anime, (its on netflix) and I loved it! If you have seen it, would you consider writing a fanfic about it? Your such a great writer, and its a great show! Perfect combo! You dont have to, I just thought itd be cool :)"_

_"I cant waiiit for the updateee! :D"_

_-My goodness, that's a lot of words! Lol. Thank you very much! Yes, I have heard of Fruits Basket, but I haven't watched much. We'll see about that, although I'm quite flattered that you like my writing enough to suggest another fandom you want me to write for XD My friends are mega fans of that show. Sorry for the long wait! _

_**Guest**: "I love it! My guess is after Ulrich's hit, there'll be more damage to Odd's bruise n it'll hurt a lot more. The others will probably notice. N there will be romance between Ulrich n Yumi! :D"_

_-Yeah, the others are going to notice! We hope... I'll see what I can do about the Ulrich Yumi romance ness ;) Thank you!_

_**Kai-Chan94**: "Poor Odd. Poor, POOR Odd. I'm getting sympathy pains just reading about getting kicked in his bruise."_

_-Yes! I have created sympathy within my readers! Sort of. That was one of my goals, thanks for the review!_

_**Stonefaced610**: "Hey, there! LOVING the story so far. It's very well-written and you capture the characters very well. I can't wait to see the next chapter for it, and as long as you keep going like you are, you can count on me to follow along. Hoping to see a new update soon!"_

_-Sweet! That's definitively an accomplishment for me, keeping everyone in character, thank you very much! Hopefully I don't disappoint!_

_**Azawrath and Dusk**: "i love this so far hope to see more soon! what is xanas plan for odd..."  
_

_-Oh, you'll see what his plans are soon ;) Maybe... Thank you!_

_**PLEASE**: "PLEASE UPDATE :D"_

_-Okee, I shall! :)_

**Fading, Chapter Four**

* * *

Odd felt his body leave his stomach behind as the Overboard disintegrated beneath his feet. The laser shot had sent the back end of the board into the air, catapulting Aelita over his head. Odd himself dropped like a stone onto the ice far too many stories below.

He shook his head, getting up as quickly as he could after the rough landing. They had been trying to make it to the top of the glacier near the tower so that they could wait for the others to thin the ranks a bit, but that plan had gone down the tubes. There were krabs, bloks, tarantulas, and kankrelats scuttling about everywhere down here. Luckily, they didn't seem to be very… focused.

"Hey Jer, any idea why the monsters are acting like morons?" Odd asked as a kankrelat smacked directly into the leg of a tarantula.

Jeremie narrowed his eyes at his computer screen. "Maybe there are so many that Xana can't keep them all going at the same intelligence levels he usually does."

Odd chuckled. "You know, they weren't all that smart to begin with."

"Odd, aren't you supposed to be protecting Aelita?" Jeremie asked, biting his lip. How could someone forget that they were supposed to be watching over Aelita in two seconds?

"Right…" Odd muttered, whirling around to catch a glimpse of pink amidst the horde of monsters.

* * *

From his place in the command chair, Jeremie watched as Odd got closer to where Aelita was fighting. He quickly shifted over to the other side of the battle to see Ulrich and Yumi making quick work of their monsters. Good. At least they didn't need constant supervision, unlike Odd.

Jeremie was just planning to give him directions to Aelita's location when his screen went dark.

He blinked at the supercomputer, eyes wide. "Guys, can you hear me?" There was nothing but static for a reply. "Hello?"

* * *

Odd ducked beneath a stumbling krab, trying to find his way to Aelita through the maze of Xana's monsters. He looked up just in time to see Aelita flitting above the ice somewhere off to his right. He turned toward her location and immediately sunk to his knees, the same disorienting flickering coming over him from when he'd woken up that morning.

Odd tried to stand back up so he could go help Aelita, but everything around him started spinning, and before he knew it, his nose was pressed flat against the ice.

He clenched his teeth. Something almost felt... Wrong... And not just because he was lying on his face when he was supposed to be helping Aelita. It was like an enormous shadow had passed over him, bathing him in a sickeningly warm darkness. It closed in on him for no more than a second, but that second was long enough to pull a claustrophobic groan out of him.

And then, just like that, everything was okay again. He pulled himself into a sitting position slowly, making sure he was steady, and soon he was on his feet. No harm done. It was probably just something he ate. He brushed off the fact that he'd never really eaten breakfast in the first place. Something he'd eaten the night before, then.

Anyway, he should probably get going before Einstein noticed he'd been lying down on the job. Jeremie was already annoyed at him for being distracted, and he didn't need to give him any more reason to be mad.

He turned toward where he thought he'd last seen Aelita.

"Odd! Where are you?!" She shouted, hovering above the battlefield, dodging lasers that sailed through the air like drunken bottle rockets.

Odd jumped back as the ground in front of him was singed by a laser. He quickly took out the hornet with a laser of his own before getting down on all fours and bolting off toward his pink-haired friend.

"I'm coming, Aelita!"

* * *

Ten seconds after the computer turned off, it came back on again. Jeremie glared at his screen. This could have been a Xana thing; after all, problems could never be simple when it came to evil computer programs bent on controlling the world.

Then again, as his comm came back on, Jeremie couldn't help but notice that no one was calling his name. They probably hadn't even noticed his momentary absence, and if that was true, this probably was just a fluke. According to the life points history, nobody had taken any hits, meaning there had been no surprises while they didn't have a lookout. He ran a quick scan, but nothing of interest came up. His interface was the only thing that had lost power, as the supercomputer itself had a nuclear battery all its own. This was just a glitch, probably not something to be worried about.

Jeremie smirked as he noticed Odd's position indicator directly next to Aelita's. At least he had finally found his team mate.

He switched back to Ulrich and Yumi again to see that they had gotten relatively far in creating a sort of path for Aelita to get to the tower. Any of the monsters surrounding them seemed to be the "moronic" kind, and weren't doing any harm.

"Odd, it looks like Ulrich and Yumi have nearly finished a path for Aelita due north of your position. I can't bring up your Overboard right now, so you'll have to find a way there yourself. "

* * *

Odd was backed into a corner by a group of bloks, holding his shield in front of himself and Aelita. "Kinda busy!" he shouted at the sky.

Aelita launched an energy field at one of their attackers before pulling herself back behind the shield.

"Got it, I'll send you some backup," Jeremie replied.

Odd hissed as one of the bloks' lasers crackled against his foot. That was the one thing he hated about this shield. "Might wanna hurry, Einstein!"

"You've got thirty life points left."

Odd was just about to tell Aelita to use her wings and make a break for it when he caught a glimpse of the glacier behind them a few meters away.

"Aelita, do you see what I see?" He asked, jerking his head toward something.

"Jeremie, is that a tunnel?" It did look like a tunnel, but it might be too small for them to escape through.

Both could hear the sound of Jeremie's typing coming over the comm system. "Looks like it is."

They began to inch toward the small crevasse in the ice. Odd crouched down with his shield to give Aelita some protection as she crawled inside. He followed soon after, clenching his teeth as another laser hit him in the back of the leg.

"Ten life points left, Odd."

"Got it, Einstein. At least now we have some cover." The tunnel opened up wider a little further in, but the opening was too small to allow for the bloks to enter. They needed to move quickly, though, before Xana decided to send some smaller monsters after them. Aelita took off running, followed by Odd on all fours.

The two were skating around corners, slipping and sliding down the tunnel as fast as they could, when Jeremie's voice echoed around them. "Yumi's just been devirtualized. Ulrich is waiting somewhere near the end of the tunnel to help, but you need to hurry. Xana's sending another round of monsters, and they're gaining fast."

"We're going as fast as we can!" Odd shouted, losing his footing and skidding into a wall. He scrambled to get to his feet and catch up to Aelita. The opening of the tunnel loomed up ahead of them.

Odd's ears twitched, picking up a humming sound. "Hornets!" He warned, glancing behind to see two of the monsters zipping after them. They were already charging up their lasers, aiming right for Aelita. She was almost to the end, but it looked as if they weren't going to make it unless someone did something.

A katana went whizzing past Odd's head, destroying one of the hornets in a flurry of sparks. He grinned. "Thank you, Ulrich!" The samurai stood at the end of the tunnel next to the Overbike, ready to take Aelita to the tower.

They weren't out of the woods yet, though. There was still one hornet left, and it was about ready to fire at their princess. Odd sprinted after Aelita, hurling himself into the air to intercept the laser fire. The shot glanced off of his shoulder, whittling his last ten life points down to zero, but at least Aelita was safe.

The scanner doors opened back on earth, and a very disoriented Odd slid down against the back wall. Luckily, Yumi had already gone up to Jeremie's level, and he had a few seconds to feel like crap before he pulled it together again. He did his best to ignore the way his pulse was throbbing in his head and the way he really felt like puking this time. Explaining that to his friends wouldn't be all that fun.

His shoulder was on fire, and he knew there would certainly be a bruise there in the morning. Good thing he wore long sleeves. He clenched his jaw, trying to keep himself from groaning out loud. The pounding in his head continued to echo until it dissipated a minute or two later. He stood up slowly, hoping he wasn't going to nearly lose consciousness again. Although his vision went blurry for a moment, he was able to keep himself upright. He took a few steps out of the scanner, testing his legs.

Odd nearly jumped out of his skin when the other two scanners opened up, revealing both Aelita and Ulrich. Neither of them seemed harmed in the least by the transfer. So it was just him, then... Either way, he pulled himself together as quickly as he could.

"Did you guys install the last shield?" He asked, hoping his voice wouldn't fail him. It didn't.

"Yup." Ulrich replied. He didn't give Odd a second glance as he walked over to the elevator, something Odd never expected to be so thankful for. Aelita narrowed her eyes at him, but he looked at her innocently, confused, and all traces of concern or suspicion (he wasn't sure which) disappeared from her features. He walked over to the elevator himself, realizing that he was getting good at this.

One level above, the four teenagers stood watching as Jeremie finalized the defense shields with a few more keystrokes.

Ulrich glanced down at his phone. "Told you it was a good idea to finish our homework, Odd. It's already 8."

"So, are you guys ready for the history test tomorrow?" Jeremie asked, turning away from the computer.

"There's a history test tomorrow?" Odd and Ulrich gaped, hoping he was joking, but Jeremie only nodded.

"Yeah, Mr. Fumet has been telling us that nonstop for the past three days."

"Did you guys forget to study?" Aelita asked.

Yumi smirked at the looks of horror on their faces. "I think that's a 'yes'."

Odd let out a long sigh. "Well, I guess we know what we're doing tonight, huh, good buddy?"

Ulrich groaned in response.

* * *

"All right, so, in which city was Archduke Franz Ferdinand killed?" Ulrich asked from where he sat on his bed with his textbook in his lap and a bowl of popcorn sitting next to him.

Odd sat cross legged on his own bed. He closed his eyes, trying to remember the day Mr. Fumet had given the answer to that question. "Um... Sara... Sarajevo?"

"Correct." Ulrich grabbed a piece of popcorn and tossed it at Odd, who promptly caught it in his mouth.

"Remind me again why our study session includes you giving me treats like I'm Kiwi or something..." Odd said.

"Eh, it's just more fun this way." Ulrich replied, although the real reason was that Odd had decided to skip dinner again and Ulrich was trying to get him to eat something. Popcorn wasn't the healthiest thing in the world, but it was still something. "Okay, Germany's plan for fighting France and Russia was called what?"

"Umm... Wasn't that the... Schlickman plan?"

"It's called the Schlieffen plan, actually. Now get out your notebook and write 'Schlieffen plan' ten times."

"Geez, who are you, a drill sergeant, or Mrs. Hertz?" He got out his notebook. "Uh... How do you spell 'Schlieffen'?"

Ulrich rolled his eyes and spelled it out. "I thought you said you couldn't afford to fail this test?"

"Well, yeah, but... isn't this a little over the top?"

"Not really. Yumi and I study like this all the time."

"So, you're using your girlfriend's study habits on me, huh?"

Ulrich glared at him. "She's not my girlfriend yet."

"And 'yet' is the operative word, isn't it?"

Ulrich let out a sigh. "No wonder you do so poorly on tests, you have the attention span of a gerbil!"

Odd snorted. "So what's the deal, you study like this all the time and you still get bad grades? Doesn't seem like your study techniques are working very well. Or maybe that's because you're too distracted by Yumi!"

"Can we get back to studying, please?"

"You change the subject because you know it's true!"

"No, I change the subject because I don't want you to fail." He grabbed one of Kiwi's toys and hurled it at his roommate. "Now pay attention!"

The rubber ball hit Odd square in the face despite his efforts to evade, and he fell backwards, bumping his shoulder against the wall. He shook his head. "Okay, so, back to studying?"

"Man, you sobered up quick."

"Well, I do kind of need a good grade on this thing." He replied, fighting the urge to rub his shoulder._ Stupid bruises..._

Ulrich shrugged. "So what was Germany's plan to fight France and Russia again?"

"The... Schlieff... en... Plan?"

Ulrich gave a thumbs up and tossed another piece of popcorn across the room.

* * *

Odd stepped out of the way to let a wheelchair-bound Romain Le Goff into their Social Sciences room. A group of girls pushed Odd out of the way to follow him.

Ever since he'd fallen from the rock wall and broken his leg, girls had been fawning over him, doing their best to make sure their 'poor baby' was okay. Odd was disgusted, mostly because Romain was milking his injury for all it was worth. Even some of the teachers had been cutting him some slack, despite the fact that a broken leg had nothing to do with Romain's fully functioning brain.

Odd shrugged it off, doing his best to ignore the temptation to 'accidentally' bump into Romain's bandaged leg as he walked to his desk. For now, he had a test to focus on.

Odd stared at the first question of his history test: In which city was Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated?

He blinked a few times. He'd studied this, he knew, but somehow he was drawing on a blank. He went on to the next question, hoping he'd have more luck this time.

Twenty minutes later and Odd had only answered ten of the thirty questions, and even these he wasn't entirely sure about.

"Ten more minutes, class," Mr. Fumet announced. Odd groaned inwardly and just started circling answers.

_I am so screwed..._

* * *

"Oh, Romain, you poor thing!" Odd snorted at the girls' statement. Couldn't Romain have found somewhere else to set up his little pity charity rather than directly next to where Odd was eating?

"I actually feel hungry today, and Romain's gotta ruin it," he grumbled to himself.

"What's got you in such a funk, huh?" Ulrich asked, sitting down next to him.

"Have you not noticed what's going on?" Odd asked, gesturing to the scene in front of them.

Ulrich watched for a few moments. "So Romain is milking his injury a little bit, what's there to be mad about?"

Odd let out a sigh. "I don't know, it's just... That's what one of my sisters used to do, and it always got on my nerves."

"Well, in a family with six kids, you've gotta find some way to get attention, right?" Ulrich asked, trying to understand the situation in the context of Odd's family. Truthfully, he was kind of jealous of Odd's overabundance of sisters. At least he wasn't getting smothered 24/7 because his parents only had one kid.

"You don't understand. Louise used to hurt herself on purpose just to get attention, and my mom always fell for it."

"Romain didn't hurt himself on purpose, though, he fell from the top of the rock wall."

The rest of the Lyoko group set their trays down. "What are you guys talking about?" Aelita asked.

"Odd's annoyed because Romain is using his injury to get girls," Ulrich replied.

"Pity isn't the way to get attention no matter how badly you want it," Odd sniffed. He may have used plenty of other tactics to get attention from people, but manipulating someone with pity was where he drew the line. He stabbed his fork into one of the pieces of country fried steak on his tray before ramming it into his mouth.

"At least you've finally worked up an appetite, though," Yumi added.

Odd looked down at his food in surprise. He shrugged and continued to eat.

"So, how did you guys think you did on the history test?" Jeremie asked.

"That cram session last night really helped me," Ulrich said. "What about you, Odd?"

He set his fork down before replying. "As Jim Morales once said, 'I'd rather not talk about it.'"

Aelita snickered. "Aww, come on, you can't have done that badly."

"On the contrary, princess, I probably did," he grinned at her.

"At least you still have two weeks before the semester ends. Mr. Fumet usually gives out a project for extra points during the Holocaust unit," Yumi said.

"I guess." Odd stood up with his tray, which was empty for the first time in two days. "I should probably go talk to him in case that won't be enough. I've already failed two of the tests this semester."

"See you in science, then."

"Bye."

He dumped his tray and headed for the Social Sciences building, but paused for a second as he walked down the hallway: he was beginning to regret polishing off his lunch.

Odd took a few deep breaths and swallowed, trying to convince himself that he was okay. He just needed to ignore it and the feeling that he was about to see his lunch again would go away eventually.

_I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm perfectly okay... _

His mental pep talk didn't stop him from making a break for the nearest restroom a few moments later, though.


	5. Chapter 5

_Finally, the fifth chapter of Fading! So terribly sorry about the immense wait, my last semester of high school was absolute MURDER. I think I only got about five weekends out of 18 free, not to mention three AP tests to cram for, lol. Then again, I've never been the best at updating, have I? So it really is mostly my fault... I'm sorry guys!_

_On the upside, you people are the best readers I've ever had. My first fanfic (still in the process of writing the last chapter) was for the Teen Titans fandom. I got 18 chapters into it and so far it's gotten 123 reviews, 43 faves, and 49 alerts. I'm only 4 chapters into this story, and already I have more than half as many reviews, almost the same amount of faves, and five more alerts.** YOU GUYS ROCK**. You have no idea what all of your support means to me, even though I suck at updating. I'm so glad to have found Code Lyoko and its fandom after all these years :)_

_Before I forget,** everyone go read DarkHououmon's story, "Fall"**. It's amazing, believe me!_

_Again, I don't know if I responded to all of the not-anonymous reviews, so I'm sorry if I haven't! However, I'm only going to reply to the anonymous reviews this time. Some of my replies might have hints, so if you're not too lazy, you might want to read them ;)_

_**Asawrath:** _"...need more. Idk what's going on but something horrible is gonna happen isn't it can't wait for the next chapter"

_-Thank you! And you're most certainly right that something horrible is going to happen :D I feel like a sadist putting a ":D" after that sentence... Oh well..._

_**Guest:** _"Keep Going! This story is sooo good! Uh-Maze-Ing!  
Pediction: Odd is going to pass out in the middle of class and not wake up 'cause of X.A.N.A"

_- Well, that's not how I envisioned it, but something along those lines might happen ;) Thank you very much!_

**_idk anonymous hi:_ "**:-( Odd my sweet, precious child it'll be okay

eating disorder fanfics make me so sad but in the sad way that we watch sad movies and listen to sad songs, because they're disgustingly sweet and delectably painful and it draws out the inner masochist hiding away in everyone.

update because this is lovely!"

_- That second sentence was very poetic, my friend :)__The "eating disorder," as you call, it won't really be the center of the story, more of a side effect of what's actually happening, but I have a feeling that what's really going on will be just as good. I hope it will be, and thank you very much!_

**_Guest: "_**Ahh how I love odd... You are doing wonderful darling! You do a good job of showing how odd is reacting to all this. My prediction is that xana is either going to severely injure odd while he is in Lyoko or put him into a coma somehow :) update soon!"

-_*chuckles* I don't think I've ever been called "darling" before, I kind of like it :) And thank you! You might have something with that coma idea *evil laugh* XD_

**_JustAnother odd1: "_**Please update soon tis very good!"

-_Why, thank you, kind sir/madame! I'll try to update more frequently now that summer is here :)_

**_Person:_ **"Love it so far, can't wait for the next chapter! Don't take too long, ok? ;)"

_-Unfortunately, I did take forever *hangs head in shame* Thank you for the review!_

**_Angel: _**"Sorry it took me soo long to see this, it's been a long year already!

But OMC! This is incredible! :O :D Can't wait to see what happens next! Every time you write, it amazes me! You have such great talent! And an outstanding plot! Go you! This is just terrific! :D Update soon!"

_-I can so relate, don't worry about it. And thank you so very much, I'm surprised anyone likes my writing well enough for such high praise! :)_

**_Guest: _**"Hello there. I was hoping I could hold you to your earlier promise of an update soon, eh? Your writing is fantastic, and I've become quite pulled-in by your story. I do hope you're planning to continue. And I don't think I'm the only with hat opinion!

Looking forwards to your next update!"

_-Yeah, so much for that promise *facepalm*... I'm sorry! Thank you for the review!_

_**Anon: "**_Update, please! I can't wait for the next chapter. I would hate it if you abandoned this."

-_ I won't be abandoning it, I promise! I didn't realize it until I was writing this chapter, but this story is actually an allegory for my own personal story, making it very special to me. I'll be finishing it, even if it takes forever (hopefully it won't) :)_

**_Anon: _**"Please Update! I love this story!"

-_Thank you!_

**_OA:_ "**Oh, jesus. This is amazing, like holy crap. im gonna go log in and follow/favourite this right now, I need this in my life"

_-Thank you, I'm glad you like it so much!_

_Incredibly long author's note, I apologize... Also, thank you to Rini for helping edit!_

_ON WITH THE CHAPTER YOU'VE BEEN WAITING 5-6 MONTHS FOR!_

**_Fading, Chapter 5_**

* * *

"What was it you needed again, Mr. Della Robbia?"

Odd stopped hanging around outside Mr. Fumet's door trying to think of what to say and entered the classroom. "I was hoping you might have finished grading my test." He responded.

"Yes, actually I have." He looked at his student for a few seconds, his expression unreadable.

Odd couldn't take even this amount of suspense. "Soooo?"

Mr. Fumet sighed. "I'm afraid you got a D-."

"So... That averages out to a D for the quarter, right?"

"Actually, you have an F."

"What!?"

"You're going to have to find a way to pull your grade up in the next three weeks, or you'll have to take the class over again before the next school year." Odd felt his stomach clench at those words, but they were nothing compared to the words that followed: "Otherwise, we'll have to hold you back."

"I... Bu... You can't do that! It's stupid to decide whether someone is smart enough on a few dumb tests!"

"Odd-" Mr. Fumet tried to interject, but Odd cut him off.

"I mean nobody will actually remember the exact date of the Battle of Waterloo twenty years from now, what's the point!?"

"If you're finished, I would like to point out that I don't make the rules, however, I am required to enforce them."

Odd had gotten his temper under control by now. He pursed his lips before uttering out a somewhat contemptful "Understood, _sir _."

"The attitude isn't helping your case, Della Robbia… However, there is an extra credit project you can do that I'll give during the Holocaust Unit. Unfortunately, I don't think that will be enough, particularly if you keep doing so poorly on the tests." Odd chewed his lip for a second, staring at the pencil on Mr. Fumet's desk.

"I studied for hours last night," he whispered. "I don't know what happened!"

"Some people need to work harder than others." Mr. Fumet replied.

"No, you don't understand, I knew the answers, and we had studied those same questions last night, but I just..."

"I would offer you a retake, but of course I only give one per student per semester, and you've already used yours."

"Come on, there's gotta be something I can do?"

"I'll see if I can find something. In the meantime, I'd like you to try studying every night. You'd be surprised how much it helps." With that, Mr. Fumet went back to the papers he had been grading.

Odd took that as his signal to leave, and he turned and walked back into the hallway. He took a few paces towards the cafeteria, faltered for a second, then slunk to the side of the hall, his eyes screwed shut.

"What the heck…" he mumbled, feeling as if he'd just been hit in the head with a mallet. After a few seconds, he pushed off of the wall and continued down the hallway, a dull throb in the back of his head.

* * *

"So where did you guys say you were going for Winter Break again?" Aelita asked as Odd sat down at the lunch table again, her question aimed at the three males of the group.

"My parents are dragging me with them on their "vacation" to the Philippines. And when I say "vacation" I really mean "business trip"," Ulrich said, air quotes added for emphasis.

"My dad is taking me to some sort of robotics research lab in New York," Jeremie added, trying to sound as if he'd rather stay right where he was, but failing miserably.

"You know, Jeremie, it's okay to take a break from fighting Xana every once in a while. What's more important, though, is that it's okay to be excited about it," Aelita quirked a smile at him. "Yumi and I will be here in case he tries anything, so you've got nothing to worry about. What about you, Odd?"

"Yeah, didn't you say you were going someplace warm?" Yumi added.

"That was the plan. Two weeks in a beach house on one of the islands in the Caribbean," he smirked putting his hands behind his head as if he were already relaxing on the beach.

"Lucky..." Ulrich muttered.

"Can you bring me back a souvenir?!" Aelita asked, her ear-to-ear-grin a stark contrast to the looks of jealous hatred on the rest of his friends faces.

"Sure, what did you want?"

"It doesn't matter, anything's fine."

Odd grinned. "Okay, I'll get all of you something." He said, more to annoy the rest of the group than to be kind.

"That is, if you don't fail your history class." Ulrich noted. "Did Mr. Fumet finish grading your test?"

"Yeah..." Odd replied. His friends leaned in a little, waiting for him to say it. He didn't.

"Well?" Yumi leaned back, crossing her arms.

"Oh, right! I got a D... Minus..."

Ulrich's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "But how did...!?. And I helped you study, and... Did you ask him which questions you missed?"

"There were 30 questions on that test, and I had to have missed at least 7 of them."

"12," Jeremie amended.

Odd let it a disgruntled sigh. "12, then... But I don't get it, I mean, I've never done this bad before... Well, actually, I have done this bad before, but... not after I spent so much time studying!"

"Maybe you were just having a bad day?" Aelita asked.

Odd shrugged. "I guess..."

The lunch bell rang at that point, and Odd headed to math class with Ulrich. The sharp noise was enough to irritate his headache, but it didn't last long.

"So, I didn't want to say this in front of everyone else, but William's leaving Kadic to go on a trip with his family." Ulrich said, a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Aren't most people leaving Kadic during break?" Odd asked, raising an eyebrow.

"William's leaving two weeks early to go home."

Now Odd was the one with a smirk on his face. "So you'll have Yumi all to yourself again, eh good buddy? Just promise me you'll quit chickening out and tell her that you really want to be with her."

Ulrich glared at him as they walked into Ms. Meyer's classroom.

* * *

"Odd, wait up!" Aelita said as she followed him out of the library. The librarian sent her an annoyed glare at the racket she was making, but Aelita ignored it.

Odd glanced back at her in bewilderment, stopping outside the library to wait for her.

"Where are you going?"

Odd quirked an eyebrow at her. "To my... room?" he asked.

Aelita narrowed her eyes. "But you said you would come with Jeremie and me to the factory after class."

Odd blinked at her. "I did?"

"Yeah, you told us you would come with us during study hall, remember?"

"Um... I... No?"

"But you did agree to come with us."

"Oh...kay then..." He said, somewhat concerned as to how he could have forgotten an entire conversation with his friends. What scared him more, though, was the fact that he still couldn't remember the conversation, even after Aelita had reminded him.

"Are you okay?"

Odd jerked his head up at Aelita's voice, trying to put on his signature grin. "Well, obviously I could use a little caffeine!"

She snickered, looking at him for a few seconds longer than she normally would have. "Well, Jeremie's probably waiting for us. We should get going."

They started off for the woods.

"So what is it we're going to the factory for again?" Odd couldn't help but ask.

"Don't you remember Jeremie mentioning that he would work on helping you with your target practice?"

_Oh, I get it..._ He thought to himself. _Aelita's taking me to Lyoko to improve my aim..._ His pride was still a bit wounded from knowing that he even needed to improve his aim in the first place, but he swallowed it as quickly as he could.

"Well, yeah, I do remember that, but I didn't think it would be ready that fast."

"He found something my father created, so he didn't have to come up with it entirely on his own."

"Cool."

The rust from the manhole-cover bit into Odd's fingertips as he lifted it up, letting Aelita go first. He went in after her, pulling the cover back into its place with one hand and holding the ladder with the other.

The next thing he knew, his foot had slipped, and he was lying on the concrete of the sewer, staring up at Aelita's worried face.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her eyes wide.

Odd sucked air back into his unforgiving lungs, trying to pull himself together. "Yeah, I'm good."

"How did you fall?"

He shrugged, ignoring the hand she offered him, and getting to his feet on his own.

The world swayed around him, and Aelita caught his arm. "You're sure you didn't hit your head or something?"

Odd shook the dizziness away. "I'm fine."

"You nearly fell over."

"I just stood up too fast." He brushed her hand away and grabbed his skateboard, but Aelita followed after him on her scooter like a lost puppy.

Odd looked back at her for a few seconds, smiling at the way her eyebrows were knitted together with worry. "I'm a Lyoko Warrior, princess, not a baby bird!"

Aelita let out a stifled chuckle, imagining Odd as a tiny robin. "You never know! Xana's already turned the entire population of Kadic into a horde of zombies, he might just master turning you into a bird!"

Odd grinned back at her and shrugged. "Either that or he'll find a way to turn G. I. Jim into a hippo. Those things are dangerous!"

Aelita's laughter echoed through the sewers.

* * *

"Ready for target practice?" Jeremie asked from his place in the command chair.

"Why not?" Odd grinned sarcastically as he and Aelita walked over to the supercomputer, waiting for Jeremie to start his spiel.

"I've found some of the source codes for Xana's monsters, and I've debugged them and put them into a scrambler to vary the experience."

"Uh... English, please?"

"It means you'll be fighting Xana's monsters, but they'll be under my control, and I've set up a training session on random, so you never know what will come up."

"Oh..."

"We should get started then." Aelita added, walking towards the elevators.

Odd tried not to hiss as his headache from earlier in the hallway started up again, but luckily Aelita didn't turn to look at him, and Jeremie's eyes were still glued to his computer screen. He could still feel his pulse in the back of his head when the scanner lit up around him, but the pain drifted away when he dropped to the ground on Lyoko.

"Okay, Odd, are you ready?" Jeremie asked, his voice echoing around the Desert Sector.

"Bring it on, Einstein!"

Aelita sat on the Overboard a few paces behind her purple clad friend, ready to give him whatever tips she could think of.

Two bloks appeared in front of them at a distance, their Xana eyes trained on Odd.

With catlike-grace, of course, Odd back flipped out of the way of a laser shot, then spun to counter attack with a laser arrow.

The arrow hit the corner of the blok rather than its Xana eye, and Odd had to keep dodging lasers before his third and seventh laser arrows found their marks.

_I really am off my game today,_ he thought to himself.

"28.6 percent success rate, Odd, you'll have to do better than that." Jeremie said.

Odd's tail twitched in annoyance. _I know,_ he mouthed.

"Are you aiming before you shoot, or do you rely on muscle memory?" Aelita asked.

"Uh… "

Aelita ran one hand through her hair, the gesture looking awkward in the virtual environment. "Okay, simpler question. Do you aim? Or do you just trust you're pointing in the right direction?"

"Probably the second one, why?"

"Just... try aiming first. Ready for round two, Jeremie!"

"Got it."

A squadron of hornets appeared on the horizon, forcing Odd to try to count them all as he ducked to avoid more lasers. Five minutes later, the last hornet dissipated in a flurry of pixels. Odd blinked a few times and sat down on a nearby rock, already mentally exhausted.

"31 hits out of 72. Better." Jeremie stated bluntly. Faster than Odd could think, or get up, for that matter, another herd of krabs appeared in a circle around him. After taking a few ten-point hits, he got his head out of the clouds and the crowd was thinned before he could be devirtualized.

Odd sat down and let his head hit the ground as he lay back, only ten of his life points left.

"All right, Odd, that's enough practice for one night." Jeremie informed him. Odd was left with little time to wonder whether forced rematerialization caused the same reaction as a laser shot before he felt himself slipping back into his real body.

For once, though, the light of the scanner didn't greet him. The thought crossed his mind that the scanner's lights might need to be changed, but he could tell that the doors had already opened by the hissing sound that followed.

He still couldn't see anything.

Panic dug into stomach like thorns at the thought of being blind for the rest of his life. He forced back the tidal wave of anxiety by reminding himself that the effects of his being materialized had worn off before. There was no reason to think that they wouldn't wear off now.

He blinked a few times, looking around and wondering if it was possible that all of the lights in the room had gone out due to a power outage or something. Then again, Jeremie would have mentioned it.

Now what? And hadn't Aelita been sent back with him?

He listened for her footsteps, but his ears were met with nothing. No one was in the room but him.

He fumbled himself out of his scanner, one hand on the wall as he felt his way over to the elevator. There was the keypad, now all he had to do was press the button and... The gears that operated the door grated on each other, and Odd stepped inside. Was it weird that he only now realized he had never kept his eyes closed on an elevator ride?

The sudden upward motion nearly caused him to stumble, and he felt like he was leaving his stomach behind, but at the same time, the blackness became just a little less black. Now he had the fuzziest outline of the world around him as his guide, but fuzzy was better than nothing. The elevator doors opened.  
The glow of the computer screen floated in front of him, and he followed it until his foot bumped into the track in the floor for the command chair.

Somehow, he found Jeremie's face, which was still glued intently to the screen, as always.

"Is there a reason Aelita didn't come back with me?"

"I almost forgot to have her go check some of the defense shields. You guys were right next to a way tower, so there wasn't much point in you staying to be an escort."

He was right about that. Aelita was soon in the elevator riding up to greet them. Luckily, Odd only felt as if he were wearing sunglasses now. He and Jeremie walked to the elevator and together they all made their way out of the factory.

Odd had never been one to walk behind his friends, and since Aelita and Jeremie seemed to want to walk next to each other (only an idiot wouldn't know why) Odd was stuck walking backwards in front of them. He took one step out of the shadow of the factory on the bridge and the sun shone in his face. He had to stop and clench his eyes shut, trying to get back into the shadows.

"Wow, that's bright…" he muttered.

Jeremie and Aelita tilted their heads at him. The both took a step into the sun and looked up, squinting a little, but otherwise unharmed.

Odd shrugged, tentatively opening one eye so he could see where he was going. "I guess my eyes just haven't adjusted yet…" he muttered half-heartedly.

"Have you always been this sensitive to light?" Jeremie asked. "I've never noticed it before."

Odd shrugged. "I don't know, I guess…"

Both Jeremie and Aelita looked to the sun, then back at him, but they didn't push the issue any farther.

They set off for Kadic again, Odd choosing to remain behind the two rather than walk ahead.

* * *

Odd glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time. The glowing red numbers blinked back at him in time to the slowly ticking seconds. 11:47. So maybe eating that second helping of macaroni hadn't been the best idea, especially when he already knew food wasn't on his side lately. But he was starving for once, and he hadn't even felt full at the time. He shut his eyes tight again, wishing he could just fall asleep. As if feeling like he was going to puke wasn't enough, every muscle ached when he tried to move. He wondered once again if he was coming down with something, the flu maybe.

Odd shoved his face back into his pillow, letting out a muffled groan at the way the muscles in his back felt a little (actually a lot) tighter than normal. The laser shots he'd endured during their little "training session" weren't helping either. In short, he was absolutely miserable, and sleep was a creature that refused to bend to his will. If only there was some way to feel better, even for a few minutes, so he could just fall asleep. Like a hot bath or something…

Odd's eyes snapped open as the idea came to him.

After all, he did know of a place where pain didn't immediately exist, so long as he evaded whatever monsters came his way.

He glanced at the clock again, thinking for a minute. It was past midnight now, and going to Lyoko to leave all the aches behind for a few minutes sounded great, but if Jim caught him, he'd go to detention again. If Mr. Fumet found him in detention, his chances of fixing his history grade would disappear like fresh donuts at the Della Robbia residence on a Saturday morning.

Donuts… ugh. He really needed to stop thinking about food.

Odd closed his eyes again. He would be asleep in no time, he just had to… count sheep or something… He took a deep breath, imagining that he was lying in a hammock being rocked to sleep.

* * *

_From his place on his grandpa's knee, Odd watched in four-year-old wonder at the dishes of food his mother was setting on the table. They'd be able to eat in a few minutes. He could wait that long, right?_

_Apparently he wasn't the only one fascinated by the food. Nearly every one of his relatives had their attention turned toward the dining table, but of course, Odd wasn't worried. He had already called dibs on the last scoop of gelato. _

_For once, though, something else caught his eye other than the mouthwatering array of food displayed on the table. _

_Across the hallway, Louise watched all of her adult relatives paying attention to either her other siblings, her cousins, or the food. Not a single pair of eyes, aside from her little brother's, was aimed at her._

_Odd blinked a few times, not quite understanding why Louise had just walked outside. Maybe she was going to start crying, like she had when they were playing outside a few days ago._

_He hadn't been the only one to think she was crying for real, but Pauline _was_ the only one who knew better. Pauline had always been more of a tomboy, so Odd had felt himself more drawn to her than any of his other sisters. That was why he looked up to her as if she were the eighth wonder of the world._

_She stood next to him while their mother rushed to Louise's aid. She tapped his shoulder, informing him that Louise wasn't crying because she was hurt, but because she wanted attention, and that Odd was never, ever, to do the same._

_Odd had looked up at his sister, trying to remember the last time he had seen Pauline crying. He couldn't. _

_Now, watching as Louise tried to pry the attention of her relatives toward her, Odd felt himself slipping off of his grandpa's knee, his head hitting the hardwood floors with a thud. He was about to start crying out loud when he saw Pauline's shape through the haze of tears, and swallowed his sobs without a single thought. _

_His grandpa was staring down at him, reaching to pick him up and dust him off, but Odd kept repeating the "I'm okay, it doesn't hurt" in the bravest voice a four-year-old could muster._

* * *

Ulrich woke up, wondering for a second why he was awake. According to the clock, it was almost 4:00 a.m. He took his earplugs out, baffled for a minute at the silence that ensued.

Apparently, Odd wasn't snoring.

Ulrich looked over at his sleeping roommate for a second in amusement before lying back down. His earplugs were nearly back in his ears in when he realized that Odd was mumbling something. He listened a little harder, trying to make it couldn't translate the mumbling, but a few seconds later, he realized he didn't have to, because his roommate started sleep talking.

"I'm okay…" Odd said calmly. "I don't need your help."

Ulrich raised an eyebrow, waiting for Odd to say something more. Nothing happened. A minute later, Odd started snoring again. Ulrich rolled his eyes, stuffing his earplugs back in his ears before burying his head in his pillow.


	6. Chapter 6

_So I finished the next chapter within a month! YEAH! I was hoping to get this story a little bit further by the Fourth of July, but that seems pretty unlikely at this point. My bad. Anyway, this chapter is kind of short (for me) but I've been working on making things happen faster, trying to speed up the action. I know I usually take forever describing a bunch of stuff that's not important, so I'm working to condense it a little right now. As for this chapter, a lot happens, trust me. I hope you enjoy it! I'm fairly certain I replied to all of the reviews I got for chapter 5, but forgive me if I didn't. Now, without further ado, I give you Chapter 6!_

_P.S. I would like to thank DarkHououmon for all of the help with this chapter and the entire story. Go read Fall right now if you haven't already!_

**Fading: Chapter 6**

* * *

Odd squinted as he walked into the guy's bathroom. He hadn't expected the lights to be so bright at 5:15 in the morning, and they aggravated his already pulsing headache. Speaking of which, were people supposed to get headaches from a lack of sleep?

He shrugged the thought off and stepped into the shower, knowing he had to hurry if he wanted to be dressed before anyone else came in here. Anyone with a brain would tell the principal if they happened to see all the bruises. He had been using his shield a lot more often, so only his legs and back had bruises, along with a few on his shoulders and arms. Either way, though, it wasn't normal. He turned the water on, wondering briefly if he should take up a sport to explain the injuries just in case.

Hot water cascaded down his body, massaging his aching muscles: the one upside to showering early. Odd almost felt like closing his eyes, but he knew he might just fall asleep if he did that. He had only gone to bed four hours earlier thanks to a late night Xana attack. It was the fourth attack this week. No one had any idea what the targets had been, but the towers had always been deactivated pretty quickly.

At least he had gotten his extra credit history paper finished the night before.

Fifteen minutes later, Odd stopped outside his dorm. Ulrich wasn't supposed to be up yet, but Odd could hear him talking to someone. Catching his name in the conversation, he put his ear to the door.

"-he's not a very good teammate on or off Lyoko ever since that happened, and if you ask me-"

Odd narrowed his eyes, ready to listen for more, but the door creaked as he leaned against it. Instantly there was shuffling inside, and Odd opened the door only to see Ulrich sleeping in his bed, earplugs in, his phone on the other side of the room.

Odd bit his lip. He wasn't sure if he wanted to "wake" Ulrich up and tell him he had heard everything, or just go along with it. Then again, Ulrich had been about to say something. Maybe he'd hear the rest of the conversation if he waited. Besides, he had a feeling he already knew what his roommate had been about to say.

Odd lay down on his stomach, trying to avoid the bruises on his back. Kiwi, of course, just had to climb on top of him and make that decision useless. He swept his dog off of him with a light jerk of the elbow and curled up on his side, grateful at least for another hour of sleep.

* * *

"Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter, meaning it's used to send signals from one cell to the other."

Odd scribbled down the vocab word in his Psychology notebook before immediately going back to doodling on the edges of his paper.

"It also works as a reward system. In an experiment, lab rats pressed levers to increase their dopamine levels and came back to press the levers over and over again. Certain substances such as cocaine and amphetamines increase dopamine levels, which is why these drugs are so addictive."

Odd sighed and started drawing a lab rat with some cheese, wondering when this lecture was going to be over. Not five seconds later, his cellphone buzzed in his pocket. He fished it out as discreetly as he could. SOS XANA. Great, another attack. At least he was skipping class this time rather than sleep.

The Psychology teacher paused to take a breath and Odd raised his hand. "Ms. Lincoln, can I go to the bathroom?"

She nodded, and Odd left. Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich were jogging toward the forest by the time he got outside.

"Any ideas what the attack is this time?" Yumi asked.

Right on cue, a series of heavy footfalls reached their ears. "Sounds like we're about to find out," Ulrich said, getting into a fighting stance.

The tangled undergrowth in front of them seemed to explode as a large man in a business suit burst through. The eye of Xana flickered in place of his pupils.

The four kids scrambled backwards, Ulrich in front.

"You guys get to the factory; I'll take care of this guy!" Odd said, taking up his usual role as specter distraction.

"No, I'll take him," Ulrich said, stepping halfway in front of Odd.

"But-"

"You'll be a better asset on Lyoko, just go!"

Odd had learned not to argue when Ulrich used that tone. There wasn't time anyway. With that, the three of them took off in the other direction, making a wide loop around where Ulrich was fighting the specter. Odd darted down the ladder behind the others.

The sound of skateboard wheels on concrete faded away as he realized the hidden dialogue behind Ulrich's actions. He didn't think Odd was strong enough to take that guy, so he sent Odd to Lyoko instead.

His face flushed with anger at the thought. So Ulrich really did think he wasn't doing a good job fighting against Xana. Odd slammed his foot down and back, propelling himself through the sewers faster than he had ever gone before.

Ulrich would soon know otherwise.

* * *

Jeremie started talking the second the elevator doors opened. "The tower is in the Desert Sector. Xana bypassed our defense shields somehow."

"I'm not sure how long Ulrich can last against that specter, so we have to hurry." Yumi added.

The three of them materialized in the Desert Sector a minute later. Odd took a deep breath, despite the fact that there was no air on Lyoko. His headache was gone and the bruises no longer bothered him every time he took a step. He was beginning to love coming to Lyoko for at very reason.

"The tower should be just ahead of you guys," Jeremie said as he got their vehicles ready.

"Got it, Einstein. Any monsters around?"

"I see three tarantulas guarding the tower right now. It's in a canyon."

"I'm thinking aerial assault," Odd said. "We can ambush them from above."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Yumi agreed. Aelita hitched a ride on the Overwing with her, and Odd got on his Overboard, climbing to the top of the canyon easily.

Each took their place around the rim of the canyon, picking a tarantula to attack.

Lasers filled the air before any of them could make their shot. Odd summoned his shield to protect himself a second too late, and the blast hit him in the abdomen.

Yumi crouched down, tossing both of her fans at her tarantula. One of them hit its mark, and Yumi jogged over to help Aelita with her monster.

Meanwhile, Odd was still trying to get a good shot at his tarantula from around his shield, which wasn't working very well. He let go of his shield and got down on his knees, trying to steady his aim.

His last laser arrow arced through the virtual air and hit the monster head on, but not before another two enemy shots could hit him.

A few stumbling steps backwards and he had regained his balance. "Ten life points, Odd." Jeremie warned him.

Odd looked over to see that Aelita and Yumi had given up their aerial advantage, trying to get rid of the last monster. Aelita looked up at him for a second, eyes widening.

Odd gasped as another laser hit him in the back, devirtualizing him.

Back in the scanner, Odd rubbed his head, taking a few deep breaths before getting out. Either he'd gotten used to being rematerialized again, or the effects had worn off, but it didn't hurt as much anymore.

Clenching his fists, he walked over to the elevator. First to be devirtualized again, no wonder Ulrich thought he was a pathetic Warrior. He pounded the 'up' button a little too fiercely.

The embarrassment only fueled his determination to prove his roommate wrong though, and he didn't bother stopping to chat with Jeremie. There were more important things to do.

* * *

"Odd, what the heck are you doing here?!" Ulrich shouted, dodging a pipe that he had already been grazed with a couple of times. The specter had gotten to the factory, but Ulrich hadn't let him get to the elevator.

"Thought you'd like some help!"

Suddenly, Ulrich was seeing stars, trying to figure out how he had let the specter hit him in the head.

Odd got in the way, dodging another swipe. A well placed kick and the specter was at least momentarily taken care of. Odd grabbed Ulrich's under the arms and started dragging him out of harms way.

Odd jerked his roommate a little further and ducked. Electricity hummed in the air, giving him an even greater incentive to avoid the specter.

He grabbed a piece of rusted rebar and swiped at the specter's legs only to hear the clang of metal upon metal as the specter blocked it with his own weapon.

The specter swung down hard.

Now it was his turn to be on defense. The shockwave traveled down his arms, ripping the rebar from his hands. He took a second to gape at the way his piece of steel had broken in two.

Unfortunately, his enemy only needed a second to lash out an electricity charged kick, catching Odd in the jaw.

Odd stumbled backward, suddenly unable to feel the left side of his face.

The specter charged at him, and he barely had time to get out of the way. He turned around and took a few steps back, only to find that the specter had disappeared.

Ulrich was just standing back up, considering that Odd had only been fighting for a grand total of twenty seconds. "I'm guessing Aelita deactivated the

tower, huh?" He asked, rubbing his head.

"Guess so..." Odd brushed the rust from the rebar off his hands looking around to make sure the specter was really gone before they both headed back down to the Jeremie's level.

"Was it me, or was that thing tougher than usual?" Ulrich huffed, nursing a few injuries other than his already growing headache.

"You could say that, yeah." Odd said. He didn't want to sound weak, but if Ulrich had thought the thing was tough, he figured it was safe enough to agree with him.

The elevator doors opened just as Aelita and Yumi were climbing back up the ladder.

"I'm beginning to think Xana's up to something," Jeremie said, turning the command chair to face the others.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. A bunch of little attacks, and suddenly he decides to throw a specter at us," Yumi agreed.

"Maybe that was what he's been building up to. That specter was pretty strong," Ulrich said.

"Speaking of which, how did the specter fighting go?"

"I'll live," Odd said, letting out a breath. "What about you, Ulrich?"

"Yeah, I think I'm g... Odd... Are you bleeding?"

Odd followed Ulrich's line of sight and looked down in confusion to see a large splotch of dark red on his shirt.

"I... Uh..."

The others watched in concern as he rubbed the fabric between his fingers, his hand coming away stained with what was most definitely blood. "Um..." He lifted up his shirt, beginning to realize that ,whatever wound was underneath, it stung... A lot.

A ragged spot of red stood out like a stop sign against Odd's much paler skin, where people normally punched to knock the wind out of their opponents. The edges of it looked almost... charred. It wasn't very deep, but it certainly wasn't just a scratch.

"The specter must have gotten you." Ulrich said, getting a closer look. "How did you not notice you were hurt?"

"Actually that's not uncommon." Jeremie said, also getting up and coming closer. "Adrenaline releases chemicals that suppress pain, making it easier to keep fighting in life or death situations. Evolutionary mechanism," he explained.

"But it does hurt, right?" Yumi asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah... Now it's starting to," Odd said.

"Yup, the adrenaline's running out." Jeremie said.

"Uh huh," Odd nodded, his voice quiet. The others probably assumed he had gotten hit with a particularly nasty electrical attack from the specter, which would explain the burn marks, but Odd knew better. The specter hadn't given him this wound at all. He stared down at the blood, trying to count howmany times the tarantula on Lyoko had hit him there. Three... It had been three, right?

"Jeremie, he's not going to bleed out, is he?" Aelita asked.

" No, it doesn't look very deep."

"So we can just take him to the nurse?"

"Yeah, we'll just ask for a giant band-aid," Odd snorted, trying to act normal.

"I'm going to say no to that..." Jeremie said.

The others looked at him as if he had just said that Sissi was a nice girl.

"I don't know about you guys, but it looks kind of suspicious to me. What are we going to say, he fell out of a tree?"

Everyone but Odd shrugged.

"So what do we do?" Yumi asked.

"A return to the past." Jeremie went over to the computer and tapped a few keys.

"Are you sure?" Aelita couldn't help but be confused. They had spent so much time trying to keep Xana from becoming stronger, it seemed like a waste to make a return trip and do just that.

"If we don't take Odd to the Nurse, which we can't, it'll get infected pretty soon. I'm fairly certain no one here knows first aid, am I correct?"

There was a collective group of sighs, followed by nods. Jeremie started up the process. "I'll set it back far enough so that we can actually get some sleep."

The second he pressed the enter key, Odd had to bite his lip to keep from gasping aloud.

All of a sudden it felt like every nerve had gone on fire, but it only lasted a moment or two before everything was wrapped in white.

* * *

Odd stared at the blinking cursor on the screen. The heading in the corner of the document started off with his name, then the date, followed by the subject: Extra Credit Holocaust Paper.

What in the world just happened? He could have sworn he had been somewhere else only a few moments ago, but he couldn't think where. Or what, for that matter.

He scrunched his eyes shut, starting to want some Advil.

It was at that moment that Ulrich walked into their dorm and light from the hallway spilled into the room.

"So is that gaping hole in your stomach fixed?"

Odd blinked at the computer screen. "What hole?"

"Ha, very funny," Ulrich snorted.

"No seriously, what are you talking about?"

"You're hilarious, Odd." He grabbed his wallet and walked out the door. "I'll be at the movies with Yumi," He added over his shoulder.

Odd was left, as confused as ever, looking down at the keyboard. He sighed and started typing up his paper for what he didn't realize was the second time.

* * *

One in the (freaking) morning and he was still awake. No matter which way he turned, his aching body and even more aching head refused to let him drift off.

At one point, his tossing and turning had gotten him so tangled up in his blankets that he hadn't been able to stop himself from falling out of his bed. He barely held down a surprised yelp as his already bruised back hit the floor hard.

That was the last straw. With a quiet groan, he stood up, glancing over at Ulrich to make sure he was still asleep. He put his shoes on and opened the door, stalking down the hallways with the ease of a cat.

Moonlight washed everything in an ivory glow, making it easy to navigate through the forest. The sewer, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. It was nearly pitch black down there, and Odd gave up on using his skateboard in favor of feeling his way through the tunnels. Finally, his hand rested on the bottom rung of the metal ladder, and he scurried up into the moonlight as if a hoard of Xanafied rats was chasing him.

Footsteps echoing eerily throughout the empty factory, Odd soon found himself in front of the supercomputer, searching for Jeremie's notes.

There were supposed to be here in worst case scenarios, and Odd found them in compartment of the command chair he hadn't known existed until now.

Thirty minutes and one migraine later, Odd finally had it figured out. He set up an automatic virtualization program and nearly jumped down the ladder as he hurried to get into the scanner in time.

The pressure behind his eyes melted away as the doors closed and the procedure started. He let out a contented sigh as he felt the bruises disintegrating into meaningless pixels that he could no longer feel.

There was a tingling sensation in his fingertips, and when he opened his eyes, the serenity of the forest sector greeted him. Not a monster in sight. Perfect.

He sat down and laid back, stretching on the ground like a cat curled up in the sun. He closed his eyes again, knowing that he would be coming here often.


End file.
